Soft hearts should not be accompanied by soft heads

Yesterday, Vermont Governor Peter Shumulin appeared on Democracy Now to talk about the effect of Hurricane Irene on his Green Mountain State. Twice in the interview, he used the words irrational, but throughout the interview he and his interviewer were remarkably illogical. Though many parts of his state were being washed away by raging floods…

Decarbonise South Australia and Brave New Climate visit The Atomic Show

On August 13, 2011, I braved the 13.5 hour time difference between Adelaide, South Australia and Lynchburg, VA to record an interview with Ben Heard, the force behind Decarbonise SA and Dr. Barry Brook, the well respected climate scientist who blogs at Brave New Climate. Aside: I used the phrase “braved the time difference” because…

False media balance – radiation health risks contrasted against climate change

An Atomic Insights reader pointed me to Joe Romm’s recent post titled False Balance Exposed: BBC Gives Too Much Weight to Fringe Views on Climate Change, Independent Review Finds. Duh. In that post, Joe discusses how an outside reviewer has determined that the BBCs strong desire to show impartiality can result in providing poor information…

Another blogger for nuclear energy – Decarbonise SA

I have just spent a pleasant hour perusing a fascinating site called Decarbonise SA (where SA = South Australia). Ben Heard, an Australian who operates a consultancy named ThinkClimate Consulting is the force behind the site. He is a man on a mission – to move South Australia’s electric power system to zero carbon dioxide…

“Green Nukes” – Important climate change mitigation tools

Adam Curry interviewed Curt Stager, the author of Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth for his Big Book Show. During the interview, Curry and Stager spent several minutes discussing the potential for “green nukes” to be an important climate change mitigation tool. Aside: Adam Curry interviewed me four years ago about…

APPA Detailed Study on Effects of Switching From Coal to Natural Gas For Electricity Generation – Not a "Bridge Fuel" Strategy

The American Public Power Association (APPA) has released a detailed, 95-page study titled Implications
 of 
Greater
 Reliance
 on
 Natural
 Gas 
for 
Electricity 
Generation
 (4.8 MB PDF) that analyses the costs, required rule changes, and risks of replacing a major portion of the coal fired electricity in the United States with natural gas. APPA is the…

The Atomic Show #52 – Climate change controversy

Shane and I discuss our understanding of human activity’s effects on global climate. As two geeks not trained in climate science, but comfortable with complex systems, our approach is unique. Unless you live under a rock, you have an opinion about whether or not man’s activity is causing a coming global catastrophe. Two recent films…

The Atomic Show #046 – CEO’s request mandatory federal greenhouse gas limits

Leaders of at least ten major corporations have requested mandatory federal greenhouse gas limits Shane and I talk about the somewhat counterintuitive request by the heads of ten major US corporations (Including GE, FP and L Group, PG and E, Duke Energy, Caterpillar, Alcoa, DuPont, BP America, Lehman Brothers, PNM Resources) for the federal government…